Grill masters will battle at stadium

Friday

“BBQ is readily available, but good BBQ is very hard to find and is a labor of love,” said Ted Lorson, of Norwich

Do a Google search of “How to barbecue” and see how many hits you get.

Go ahead. I’ll wait ...

Got your number? Mine turned up more than 29,000,000 results. Ditto for “How to bbq.” You can also Google the word “Barbecue” and end up with 70,000,000 results. A search for “bbq” gets 111,000,000.

But grillers I’ve spoken to say barbecuing is much more than Googling a recipe or “how to” manual.

“BBQ is readily available, but good BBQ is very hard to find and is a labor of love,” said Ted Lorson, of Norwich, in an email. Lorson and his wife, Sheila, have been involved in barbecue competitions since 2006 and are adding their knowledge and expertise to helping set up the first Norwich Rotary Rose City BBQ Cook-off May 7 at Dodd Stadium. All proceeds from the event, except for the prize pool for the winners, will be donated to St. Vincent de Paul Place and Reliance House in Norwich.

As of Friday, there were 13 teams signed up from throughout New England and New York, as well as teams from Colchester, Norwich and Groton — teams You Chill I Grill, Circle Of Friends and Chester’s Barbecue will try their hands in the categories of barbecuing pork, chicken, sausage and/or chef’s choice. More teams are expected to sign up, and the Rotary is still looking for more vendors as well as volunteers. A few more judges are also still needed.

Difficult to judge
According to Rotary member Kim Manavas, of Putnam Bank, there will be three official judges for the New England Barbeque Society-sanctioned event, but the Rotary is hoping to have another six. But judging a barbecue contest isn’t as easy as it sounds.

Jed LaBonte, co-founder and past-president of the New England Barbeque Society, said judging is based on three criteria: appearance, taste and tenderness.

“The scores are weighted with taste being the most important, followed by tenderness and appearance,” LaBonte said.
A judge looks for an entry that looks good, is tender and tastes good, he said, and all judging is blind so teams put their entry in a styrofoam box for the judges.

“Each team must cook enough for six judges to sample,” LaBonte said. With six judges, that would mean six ribs should be in the box, placed separately. “For something like pulled pork, they would put enough pork in the box so all the judges have a chance to taste it. You don’t need to feed the judges a huge portion because they will be trying six samples of every category. At the end of the day, that makes for a pretty sizable meal.”

A judge is shown the entry box for the team and will mark the score for appearance. The judge will then select a piece to taste and judge on how well it was cooked — dry, moist, rubbery, tender, etc. — and on how well it tastes.

Presentation
LaBonte said appearance is the biggest thing.

“You judge food with your eyes before you taste it,” LaBonte said.

Ted Lorson, a member of the New England Barbeque Society Board of Directors, has not only competed in contests such as this, he’s also been a judge. He’s a certified Kansas City Barbeque Society judge.

“Judging at these types of events is taken very seriously,” Lorson said. “Teams prefer contests with certified BBQ judges because they have been trained in how the meat should be scored, and what to look for.”
And chefs have their own tastes when it comes to their barbecue.

“With the Internet, the basics of barbecue are easy to find,” LaBonte said. “The hard part is finding out what works for you.”

Long resume
Lorson and his wife have competed in more than 50 barbecue and grilling contests and won the second competition they entered in 2006, qualifying for the Jack Daniel’s World Invitational BBQ in Lynchburg, Tenn., “which is the most prestigious contest in the world,” he said.

“I personally feel that good BBQ is slow cooked over wood and/or charcoal, it is very tender and has the perfect balance of smoke, sweet and spice,” Lorson said.

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